Saturday, May 31, 2014

Yes, I'm fully aware that I missed this at 5 and 6 months... life is busy! But we're back on track and here's to hoping I continue it. It's not like he's not photographed... I just didn't do it in his chair with his bear.

A little comparison... not many similarities! I think he looks a lot like her NOW but as a baby, she had different characteristics.

And the last comparison...

Nate at 7 Months:

Two teeth, working on the uppers I think (Lily had at least three teeth as shown in the photo).

He's super long and big! I'm guessing between 20-25 lbs, we should know in a week or two when we see the doctor.

His hair is out of this world. I trimmed up the back "mullet" and now it's super obvious that he needs it professionally done. Lily was way older than 7 months before I cut her hair! His hair hangs in his eyes. There is a slight curl in it but not like Lily's.

He's a great eater and loves everything he's tried except for refried beans.

He had one major poop explosion and played in it. My mom was the wonderful woman who had it happen to her and had to clean it up.

He's not the best sleeper but is getting better at naps. Here's to hoping!

He smiles all the time. Seriously! Even when he's sad, you can get him to smile. Today it was a smile/laugh/cry episode while tired.

He doesn't have stranger anxiety yet.

He's a mover. He (kinda) crawls and rolls all over the floor.

He loves to stand up and be held up. I have a feeling he'll be running soon.

He adores animals and gets giddy when Rocky comes into the room.

He loves his big sister and will stare at her all the time.

The red spot on his nose is still there but not any bigger. I hope it'll fade at some point or else the doctors will deal with it.

We got around to fixing up our veggie garden for the year. I used our three left over fence panels from Lily's Garden to do the front and we had to use a mix for the sides. It's just to keep our dogs out of it, nothing more than that. I may eventually buy two more panels to match the rest because I love the look of the black. We already had the stepping stones on hand as well and my dad supplied the plants... so this is all free! Doug tilled it up and we added some extras to the soil in hopes that we have a good group of tomatoes and peppers. Now it's just to keep it watered!

Here's what it's looked like in the past...

This was after the rock garden had taken a turn for the worse... as in we had gotten pregnant, had Lily, and had no time for it plus we had killed all of the cacti that had to be wintered over inside.

Here it is in its glory of being a Rock Garden. Time, money, and lots of needy plants....

And here's what it was when we bought the place. Rotten wood and overgrown prickly pear cactus...

Talk about a hot mess. This is when we had started moving the rocks out to use in Lily's Garden and hadn't moved the rest of the crap. But, it is after we got the fence installed.

It's been a veggie garden before too... just one that was unloved due to busy schedules and a crazy toddler.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

As stated in the previous post about Lily's Garden, I made a new bed in the one last corner of the garden. When we installed the fence last fall, it broke up the remaining front portion of the garden into four sections. One closest to the house that now has three hydrangeas, one on the other side of the fence from the hydrangeas (that was shown off in the previous post) and two others, closest to the driveway - one on either side of the fence. Confusing, I know. I need some drawings of the aerial shot of the garden.

Anyway, this one corner was rather larger than the rest and I just hadn't tackled it yet. I kind of knew what plants I wanted and knew that they would need to be able to handle full sun. Last fall I remember seeing a few plants I liked at our local nursery, that I love, and so I kept that in my mind all winter long. Now that it's finally past all of our horrible, cold, wet winter, I can plant! And plant I did! I started by clearing out the area, Doug tilled it, and then I focused on the plants. I put the new miniature butterfly bush in the back center, leaving room for it to grow. I added one star gazer lily, some coneflowers, and an assortment of others.

And the semi - after... I need to take a photo of the mulched area. Mulch makes all gardens look great!!!

One more bed down... makes it three... so one more to go! I hope to knock it out this week!!

Next up on our list... a raised bed in our front yard for our two blueberry bushes!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

This past Friday, Lily and her friends "graduated" from preschool. She is one of 5 kids (and the only girl) that graduated and will move on to kindergarten. Her best friend celebrated with them but she is younger, so she'll stay at preschool for another year. We aren't sure what we'll do when they won't see each other every day, all day. They are so close!

I didn't get that many shots because there were always other kids... but there are some more on Facebook for friends and family.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

I'm almost done in Lily's Garden! After having new sidewalks installed, we fenced in the yard to match up to the corner of our front porch. The fence broke up the front portion of the garden into 4 possible beds. I created one last fall while pregnant with Nate. One was created last week for my new butterfly bush (and others, of course). And now, bed 3 is done.

As with the rest, I lined it with bricks because the grass will eventually be replaced with rocks and I needed a divider between the mulch and the grass/rocks. This one was one of the hardest to make because of the insane amount of rocks about 1" under the soil. It's where the original rock path once was before we started renovating. We gave up removing every single rock and so they are still there. I started putting a lot in the one bed, as you can see, but they are everywhere.

I hope to get the next one done soon. I don't have flowers for it so there's no rush. However, we have plans to work on the yard on Monday. Tomorrow is Lily's birthday party so it won't happen then.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

As 2014 continues to fly by, I am working on one of my main goals for this year - purge and clean! Organizing too, but that'll come after. So awhile back, I wrote a post and started listing what I've gotten rid of. I am back to say I've added to that list!

Here's what I had...

1-40 - my clothing41 - Lily's old carseat42-100 - trash items from my desk (I'm counting papers too, just so my house is clean!)101-150 - trash items from bathroom - old products, etc. that were either out of date or never used151 - 160 - old shirts taken to school for paint shirts

And now my additions:

160-170 - boards off of front deck from Lily's bedroom remodel - these are getting cut up for a classroom project for my 6th graders

171-180 - old aluminum window pieces, frames, screens, etc that had been junking out our back porch (recycled)

181 - old door from the house, no idea what it was used for - finally thrown away (or taken from curb, who knows)

182 - broken computer chair - it was broken for years, sat on our back porch the entire time - it was picked up from our curb

183 - 190 - random junk from back porch

191 - 200 - other random boards from Lily's bedroom remodel - thrown away and/or recycled201 - box of wires to go to school (yes this counts because it's out of MY house, my classroom doesn't count in this)202 - box of magazines203 - box of crap for school. This should really count as about 50 items, but I'll just do one because it's now out of my house and I'm not picky. 204 - 220 - old binders and folders, taken to school221 - 240 - school supplies, taken to school241 - 245 - box of random knick knacks given to me, taken to school for future still life drawings246 - painting given to me, taken to school247 - broken doll stroller, trash

I am planning a garage sale for all of Lily's and Nate's clothes, plus a few random furniture pieces and other stuff. I'd love to tackle our basement this summer and go through all the boxes, bags, and whatnot. It's a mess down there and many things have not been touched in years.... meaning, it can go!